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The River Mile Crayfish Study

The River Mile's Crayfish Study

Esri ArcGIS Online

The River Mile Crayfish Study Map. Click on map to see live interactive map of the study.

Participation In the Crayfish Study

The Crayfish Study is a project of "The River Mile," a kindergarten through 12th grade watershed health monitoring program. Participation in the Crayfish Study is open to any school group wishing to assist with this important study. If you wish to participate, please contact the program lead for The River Mile.

It is important that all groups make sure that their data is correct to the best of their ability, as many resource specialists and scientists are interested in the status of crayfish in the Pacific Northwest. If you have any questionable data, make a notation in any comments section and say why it is questionable.

There are several different ways you and your students can participate in this study. At the most basic level go out, look for crayfish, identify their species and note their location (GPS with latitude and longitude). The most advanced level of participation involves setting traps for 24 hour periods of time, collecting core information about the shoreline and water, uploading your data to ArcGIS online maps and sharing your information through your school project website. All levels of participation and observation are contributing very important scientific data. Scientists need to know what species are out there and where.

Study Period

In Washington the study period is the first Monday in May through October 31st. Please be sure to check the fishing regulations for your area. All groups must conform to their local and state fishing regulations.

If you have any questions please contact The River Mile's program lead.

Data can be submitted through several different methods: iNaturalist, ArcGIS online and Excel data sheet submitted digitally by email.

To submit through iNaturalist
The River Mile's iNaturalist crayfish project: "The River Mile Crayfish Study 2014-15." Data may also be collected through this program as they have an app for both Android and iPhone smartphones. The app is free.

To submit by data sheets
The following data sheets are for field collection of data. Use all of them if you are using any type of trap or net. If collecting by hand, use only the "Crayfish Specimen Data Sheet."